the hair evidence

Rorrer hair left/diaper bag hair right

Although the police would recover more than 200 hairs from Joann's car and the crime scene, they would focus on only 8 of them: six recovered from the driver side seatback in Joann's car, and two found at the crime scene: one on Alex's diaper bag and the other from what the police would term "forest litter."

THE SEATBACK HAIRS:The six hairs found in Joann's car were blonde in color and sent to PSP (Pennsylvania State Police) Forensic Scientist Dr. Thomas Jensen. Jensen was not a police officer, but a civilian working for the PSP.

Jensen first looked at the hairs through a microscope and noticed a reddish substance adhering to some which he believed to be dried blood, but he noted NO roots on any of them.

Jensen then divided the six hairs into two groups of three; three of these hairs he mounted on glass slides and retained in his lab. The other three hairs he left un-mounted and sent to the FBI for testing.

At the FBI lab, Forensic Scientist Dr. Harold Deadman also examined the three un-mounted seatback hairs under a microscope and noted NO roots. Deadman then decided to swab the outside of the hairs and perform DNA testing in order to determine what the reddish substance was.

STARTLING RESULTS:

Deadman's DNA testing revealed that the reddish substance was, indeed, blood, but they also revealed that there was a mixture of DNA on the hairs, indicating that the hairs had been contaminated.

Deadman returned the hairs to the PSP informing them of the contamination as well as the fact that "No other DNA testing was performed."

The FBI asked Jensen for a saliva sample and determined through DNA testing that HE was the culprit who had contaminated the hairs!

On November 9, 1995, the police obtained hair samples from Patricia Rorrer, all forcibly removed and bearing roots.

Now, the PSP lab has both the hairs found in Joann's car and Patricia Rorrer's samples in their lab at the same time.

Although there is no evidence--no PSP or FBI report--that indicates the three un-mounted hairs were ever returned to the FBI, at some point, Dr. Joseph Dizinno of the FBI allegedly received these three hairs and, like Dr. Jensen and Dr. Deadman before him, first examined the hairs under a microscope and noted NO roots.​Obviously because he could not Nuclear DNA test them without a root, Dizinno decided to do Mitochondrial DNA testing on one of the seatback hairs and found he could not exclude Patricia Rorrer as a source for the hair. (Nor could he exclude hundreds of thousands of other people either).

Dizinno then mounted all three un-mounted hairs on glass slides and sent them back to Dr. Deadman.

AT THAT POINT, DR. DEADMAN IMMEDIATELY SEES A FORCIBLY REMOVED HAIR ROOT ON ONE OF THE THREE UN-MOUNTED HAIRS.

COINCIDENCE? OR SOMETHING ELSE?

1. Why, for two entire years, had no scientist seen a hair root on any of these un-mounted hairs and then immediately see one after they obtained Patty's hair samples?

2. When were the three un-mounted hairs returned to the FBI, and why is there no report indicating this?

3. Why would the FBI have wanted these three un-mounted hairs back when they were shown to have been contaminated, rendering them useless for DNA testing?

4. Why, if there was a root on one of these three un-mounted hairs, did Dr. Dizzino have to use Mitochondrial DNA testing rather than Nuclear DNA testing?

Upon seeing the "forcibly removed hair root," on one of the alleged three un-mounted seatback hairs, Dr. Deadman conducted PCR DNA testing on the root and found he could not exclude Patricia Rorrer as a source by the pitifully unconvincing odds of 1 in 37,000.

ABSOLUTE PROOF OF A HAIR SWITCH

This one lone hair was the only piece of physical evidence linking Patricia to the crimes. In 2015, a new FBI report came to light that was never handed over to Patricia's defense. This report, generated BEFORE the police received Patricia's hair samples, states UNEQUIVOCALLY the "THE HAIRS IN JOANN KATRINAK'S CAR HAVE NO ROOTS ATTACHED."

​IF THE HAIRS IN JOANN'S CAR HAD NO ROOTS ATTACHED, THEN WHAT HAIR ROOT WAS TESTED AND MATCHED TO PATRICIA RORRER??

THE DIAPER BAG HAIR:The hair found on the diaper bag--described as blonde--appears brown in the comparison photo with Patricia Rorrer's hair, and the two do not seem to match. (See photo) This hair had no root attached. Only Mitochondrial DNA testing was performed on it, not Nuclear DNA testing. While Patricia could not be excluded as a source for the hair, neither could thousands of other people.

THE FOREST LITTER HAIR:This hair did not have a root either. While it had some similar characteristics to Patricia's hair, there were also major dis-similarities as well. Due to this fact, no scientist could give an opinion as to whether Patty could be considered a source for the hair or not.